Md. Woman Died After Baby Was Cut From Womb

EDGEWOOD, Md. (WJZ) ―Just days after a pregnant Maryland woman moved to the west coast, she was killed by a woman she met online. That woman wanted her unborn child. The sick crime drew international attention.

In an exclusive interview with Mike Hellgren, the victim’s father has a serious warning for women who are too trusting.

“Just looking at that girl, I mean it was like looking at evil,” said Kevin Snively, father of the victim.

Korena Roberts changed Kevin Snively’s life forever. Turns out Roberts was faking a pregnancy.She killed his daughter, Heather and her unborn son.

“It was terrible,” Snively said. “I believe that she should die.”

Shortly after leaving Maryland for Oregon, Heather “moved out there on a Monday, and she got killed on a Friday,” Snively said.

Heather Snively, who was eight months pregnant, was looking for baby clothes on the internet. She never suspected a thing when Roberts–a total stranger she met on craigslist–offered to give her baby clothes for free.

Her dad remembers raising Heather as an outgoing person who saw the best in everyone. What heather didn’t know was that Roberts never planned to give her anything. She wanted to take her baby, and that Roberts–who has two other children–tried to lure other pregnant women to her home in the days before the murder.

“She was just really at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Snively said.

Shortly after Heather got there, Roberts beat her and used a razor to cut the boy Heather had already named John Steven from her womb.

Roberts then wrapped Heather’s battered body in carpet and shoved her in a crawlspace in her home. Then, she pretended the infant was hers.

“How she did it was just the worst thing you could ever think of in your life,” Snively said.

Roberts called paramedics, who found her holding the baby in her bathtub–crying hysterically. They rushed her to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Investigators later discovered the horrifying truth: It was all an act. Roberts had never given birth.

“I’m still a grandfather,” Snively said. “I just have to wait until I get to heaven for that.”

A psychological exam found Roberts had no mental disorders. She never revealed what lead her to commit such a heinous crime.

“She may not get a good night’s sleep the rest of her life,” Snively said. “She’s got a tough road ahead of her.”

Snively took WJZ to one of his daughter’s favorite spots, Quiet Waters Park. He says her smile and joy for life haunt him to this day. He can’t shake the emotional pain.

“I can’t believe someone would do something like this, especially to a wonderful girl like my daughter,” he said. “She had everything to live for.”

Her innocent nature lead her into a nightmare that her dad is still living.

This unbelievable crime has happened to at least four other women around the country. Earlier this month in Prince George’s County, a woman was sentenced to 25 years in prison for trying to cut a baby from another woman’s womb.

Mike Hellgren

WJZ general assignment reporter Mike Hellgren came to Maryland's News Station in the spring of 2004 from KARK-TV, an NBC affiliate station in Little Rock, Arkansas where he worked as a general assignment reporter, as well as fill-in anchor. Solid...